Finding Emma
by DontDeny
Summary: Set after the season two finale. Neal is determined to find his way back to Emma whilst also getting used to his former Land and his new companions.
1. Waking Up

It was just an ordinary day for Mulan, Aurora and Philip. After having got Philip's soul from the wraith, pretty much anything seemed normal to them.

They were walking along the beach to find somewhere safe to stay when they heard a strange noise. Of course Mulan, being Mulan, ran straight over to it. And at the sight of a man she gasped. Aurora and Philip followed. Mulan turned him over so he was facing them and looked at him strangely.

"Do you know this man?" Aurora asked her.

Mulan shook her head. "No and I think it's best of we just move on.

"We can't just leave him here!" Aurora exclaimed.

Mulan sighed. "For all we know he could be a spy."

Aurora rolled her eyes and grabbed Mulan by her arm. "Look, we can't just leave him here for dead. If we do then other people, people much worse than us will find him and who knows what they would do to him."

"He's practically dead anyway." Mulan muttered. She looked up at Philip to see what he thought and to her dismay he seemed to be agreeing with Aurora. "Fine, we'll help him." Aurora looked joyful. "But you're helping me carry him." She added to Philip.

They carried the unfamiliar man to the closest Safe place that Mulan could think of and set him down.

"Do you think you can save him?" Philip asked her.

"I'm not sure, I'll have to assess his wound."

Philip nodded and let her get to work. She didn't want to do this, but if it meant not having Aurora moan at her, then she would help this man and let him go on his way.

She took off his top layers and saw the bullet in his shoulder and winced at the sight. She was familiar with treating all kinds of wounds, but the shock was always still there. She took her time slowly getting the bullet out, that was the most important part. Once that was done, she could sew him up. She placed a wet flannel on his head and left him to rest.

She exited the tent to fond Aurora and Philip snuggling up together and did her best not to roll her eyes.

Aurora noticed her first. "Will he be okay?"

"I got the bullet out, so I think he should be fine."

Aurora made a sigh of relief. Mulan thought that odd since she didn't even know this man, but that was such an Aurora thing to do.

Nightfall came quickly and they put out their fire and went to bed.

Mulan, as usual, was awake before anyone else and managed to find some food to cook over a small fire for breakfast. Aurora and Philip awoke at the smell.

They were enjoying their breakfast and having a funny conversation so they didn't notice their stranger come out of the tent.

"Where... where am I?" He asked them rubbing his head. "And who are you?"

"I am Mulan and this is Aurora and Philip. Who are you?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Neal. Now can you tell me where I am?"

"We're on the outskirts of the Enchanted Forest."

"The Enchanted Forest? The Enchanted Forest?!" He exclaimed. "No, no, no, no, no. I cannot be in the Enchanted Forest. This is some sort of sick dream isn't it?"

"I'm afraid not." Mulan answered calmly. His outburst had startled Aurora, ever such a sensitive person. "You washed up on the shore and I cleaned your wound."

"My wound?" He asked. Then he took his hand and placed it on his shoulder, wincing at the slight pain. "I was shot."

"Yes, it certainly seems that way. Could you possibly tell us what happened?"

He sighed and figured why not just tell them. "There was a fight. My fiance, erm ex fiance, she shot me and she was going to kill me. But Emma, Emma saved me. And of course it all went wrong from there. Tamara, that's the ex fiance, she through a bean to create a portal and that's how I ended up here."

"Sounds rough."

He chuckled in spite of himself. "Yeah, you don't say."

Aurora looked at him. "When you say Emma, do you mean Emma Swan?"

"Yes! You know her?"

"Yes, her and her mother were here a while ago. Did she not mention it?"

"She did say something about being stuck here, but things have been a little crazy in Storybrooke, so she didn't mention the specifics."

"Do you know where she is?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't know if she's in Storybrooke any more or what the hell happened."

"Then we'll just have to find her." Aurora stated.

Mulan looked at her like that was the last thing she wanted to do. But she looked at Neal with his sad expression. "Yes, we will do our best to help you find her."

Neal reached into his pocket and found the Swan necklace that Emma had thrown at him. He had kept it because he couldn't bear to throw it away and now he was glad he had it to keep his mind on her. "Thank you, I'm sure that with your help we will find her." He squeezed the necklace. "We just have to."


	2. Surprises

He was placing all his trust in Mulan, which he wasn't sure was the best idea. He vaguely remembered Emma briefly mentioning the name, now that he actually thought about it. And if she (plus Aurora) helped Emma, then he supposed they couldn't be that bad.

"Do you have any idea where I can start looking?"

Mulan hesitated. "There are rumours of a magical being still left in this realm. Not quite the Dark One but someone who might be able to help."

Neal automatically stiffened at the mention of his father. After all his hatred of his father's magic, it seemed so ironic that he could use some right now.

He hoped that they didn't notice his reaction, he didn't particularly want them to know who he really was. "Do you know where you can find this being?"

"I believe so. It could take a while to get there, but it's the only thing I can think of."

Neal sighed. The last thing he expected when he went through the portal was to be stuck in the Enchanted Forest looking for some magic. Still, at least he wasn't dead.

"So, how is it you know Emma?" Aurora asked him brightly. She seemed far too happy for Neal's liking, but he supposed that was due to the presence of Philip.

"Me and Emma, we go way back." And so he told them the story of him and her and their plans for Tallahassee. When he got to the end, he looked sad. He meant what he had said to her. He never wanted her to go to jail, he never wanted to leave her and he really hadn't stopped thinking about her. Even his relationship with Tamara, which he now knew was fake anyway, had always felt a little off to him. He did have feelings for Tamara, but he didn't love her like he loved Emma. He couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved that she had lied to him. Understandably he wasn't as happy about her shooting him and throwing a portal at him. "Emma thinks I'm dead."

"You don't know that!" Aurora protested.

Mulan gave her a pointed look and shook her head. "If you fell down a portal after being shot, I'd think you were dead too." Neal looked dismayed and Mulan attempted to backtrack. "But I mean, if we find this magic, we can find Emma and then she'll know you're not dead."

"Yeah you're right. I just hope we can find this magic." He hated the fact that he was relying on magic, in his experience it only brought bad things. But if it was the only way to find Emma, then he would just have to deal with it.

Some time later, curiosity got the better of Neal and he figured he should probably actually talk to Mulan instead of being stuck with the Love Birds.

"Do you know this magical being?" He asked her.

She hesitated for a while. "He's an old friend."

"I thought you said there were only rumours."

"I have been gone a long time, searching for Aurora and then Philip. I do not know if my friend is still around."

"What happens if he isn't?"

"Then I'm not sure what we'll do." She answered honestly. Now that she had a goal in mind, her initial dislike of Neal had been subdued, he wasn't so bad after all. And since she felt like she could trust him, she wanted to help him.

They arrived at a large cave towards night fall.

"If I'm correct, my friend should be in here."

"I think Aurora and I will erm, keep watch." Philip piped up. "If that's who I think it is, well, I've had enough of dragons to last me a lifetime." He added quietly to Mulan, so that Neal was unable to hear.

Mulan nodded in agreement. "Understood." Then her and Neal headed into the cave.

"What was it that Philip said?"

"Never mind that, we just have to see if he's here."

They got to the back of the cave and found pillows in a circle surrounding a candle. However, it looked as though there was no one to be seen.

Neal sighed in dismay and started to head out. Before he could even walk two steps, a giant gust of wind knocked him back and out of some red smoke, a dragon appeared. He screamed his head off and fumbled around for a weapon before remembering he hadn't brought one.

Mulan, on the other hand seemed to be laughing. Maybe she was a little strange after all.

"Ah Mushu, old friend, always one to make an entrance."

With a puff of smoke, the dragon turned into a perfectly harmless looking man.

"You should have seen your face!" He exclaimed to Neal.

Neal rolled his eyes. "Can you help me?"

"I certainly can. It is a woman you are looking for? The woman you love?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I know most things dear boy. And what I need is something precious. Don't worry you'll get it back, it just helps."

Neal grabbed the keychain out his pocket. "Will this do?"

"That should do the trick."

Mushu took the keychain and put it in a small pan. He added strange mixtures and a puff of that red smoke with a deep look of concentration on his face.

He gasped and handed the keychain back to Neal.

"What? What is it? What did you see?" He was panicking.

"It is not your lady that you should be worrying about. It is your son."

"Henry. Is he okay?"

"He's in Neverland."

The memories of his time there flashed before him. "No." He screamed and then he blacked out.

_AN: I'm aware that the Dragon in the show was probably supposed to be Mushu and he's dead, but hey I like Mushu and I wanted to bring him in. So let's just say he wasn't actually dead!_


End file.
